Halo: Heresy of Roanoke
by Battle Bruva Volks
Summary: Roanoke, once thought to be destroyed by the burning fleets of the Covenant has now been discovered to escape the wrath of the Covenant. With newly discovered intelligence that points to a frightening cause for it's survival SPARTAN team Jaeger descends to find out why Roanoke remains unharmed. What is consider a normal recon turns into a fight against Traitors and Daemons!
1. The Heroes Come

Morbach Region, Oxus, Oxus System

January 2555

Oxus was, for the most part, a wasteland. One of the many planets written off as undesirable for colonization, as it had no real natural resources worth mentioning and the climate was either blistering hot or unbearably cold. As such, the planet became a UNSC Listening Post during the Human-Covenant war, but it was abandoned after a lack of supplies. The garrison had simply left and begun to live off the land.

Of course, the civilians that were left on the world without off-world contact or support, own descended into disorder allowing for the scum of the galaxy to call Oxus home. From the run of the mill murders on the run, political dissidents, to Insurrectionist all called Oxus home. However, this planet wasn't just occupied by humans, aliens inhabit Oxus as well.

Mainly, the same kind of scum only a different species however some also came looking for weapons. Civil war ravaged the Covenant and the multitude of factions were attempting to gather anything that could be used. From scrap metal to small ships, these glorified scavengers searched every corner of the galaxy for anything of use. However, these scavengers stumbled upon the holy grail of finds: an entire CSS Carrier.

This particular CSS Carrier, the Holder of Faith had crash landed upon the surface of Oxus many years ago and had simply lay unguarded. It's crew had either died on impact or simply died of exposure and some if lucky lived to be killed by a small UNSC garrison which had been stationed there since 2545. As such, the ship was left virtually untouched, no one ever really cared where the Covenant came from, they were happy they were all dead and that's what mattered to the population.

The Holder of Faith's position was quite unusual. It had crash landed in the shadow of a mining turned UNSC outpost which had been abandoned due to lack of supplies. The climate was like the rest of Oxus, unbearably hot during the short summers and bone chilling cold during the long, drawn out winters. However, this didn't keep the Abiding Truth from it.

The terrorist cell was in desperate need of ships, and hearing that the Holder of Faith was in a relatively good condition, they sent a small scout team to investigate it. After a quick inspection, they found the ship to be in reasonable condition, however, it was not void ready. Repairs were still needed, despite that nothing else appeared to be wrong. The Abiding Truth ordered the area to be secured and informed the scout party that reinforcements were on there way. Now, it came down to the waiting game for the scouts on the world. The majority where Kig-Yar mercenaries with a handful of Sangheili to keep order. For the most part they had encountered no resistance and since this part of the planet was devoid of sentient life it was thought that no one would alert the UNSC of their presence. However, the UNSC had already knew they were there. ONI had already know about the Holder of Faith however they hadn't had the time nor the need to send some troops there to secure the carrier. Now, they had the need and they spared no expense.

The UNSC's resolve was demonstrated by their response; SPARTANs. Fireteam Jaeger was used to such complete missions like the sabotage of the Holder of Faith. Infiltrate enemy territory, gather intelligence, then torch the target. The fire team had already done step one and they decided to divide and conquer. Two SPARTANs had infiltrated the former UNSC outpost, while two more infiltrated the actual ship to both gather intel on the ship, and planet charges on the main reactor and cause a wild cat engine failure.

"Castiel," SPARTAN Ariel-200 spoke in her thick Australian accent to her squad leader Castiel-278, "I got eyes on two hinge heads to your left, say about thirty meters."

"You have a shot?" Castiel asked the designated marksmen.

Ariel checked her Type-50 SRS and then took a look at the Sangheili, "Affirmative, I can take only one boss."

"Copy, wait for my go," Castiel ordered.

Currently he and his demolitions expert Dominic B-177 had taken up cover in a crater that was no more than twenty meters from the entrance of the carrier. He'd rather not have to deal with hinge heads at the moment but it had to be done otherwise they may have a fight on there hands. He turned to Dominic who is in his grey EOD armour, his armored hands holding his MA5C which had a suppressor on it.

"Okay, you flank right, you should be able to get behind the hinge heads," Castiel ordered.

"Got it boss." Dominic said.

Dominic moved out of the carter and moved around using the defile provided by the crashed carrier as cover. He finally got behind the Sangheili, no more than about three meters from them, he heard them talking to one another. The SPARTAN didn't understand a lick of it, but figured they were probably bitching about the cold weather.

"Dominic take the one on your left, Ariel take the one on your left." Castiel ordered there was a small delay, "Now, go"

Dominic then charged out of his cover and tackled his target to the ground.

"Candygram asshole!" he yelled as he slashed the and stabbed the surprised Sangheili's throat.

The other Sangheili took aim at Dominic but Ariel put an end to the Sangheili quickly. Her sniper rifle spat one high caliber round which, when it hit, caused the Elite's head to fly away. The rest of it's body stood for a moment before slumping over.

"Good kills," Castiel said emerging from the carter in his dark green Mrk VI armour, "Ariel give us cover were going in."

"Roger that boss," Ariel said,

"Dominic up," Castiel said motioning the SPARTAN too follow.

Dominic moved up following Castiel toward the 'entrance' of the Holder of Faith. In truth, it was nothing more but a maintenance hatch that had been opened by the scavengers. The SPARTANs made there way through the maintenance hatch and found themselves somewhere in the ships mid section.

"Where are we in the ship boss?" Dominic asked as he made his way into the pitch black, though he could see due to his enhanced vision, hallway.

Castiel thought for a moment, "Well, guessing from the open doors," Castiel motioning to the one of the massive corridors which had once been cover by a massive blast door which was now gone, "We are near the bridge, covies always had their bridges on the inside of their ships."

"Right, so we are heading to the engine block which should be that way right?" Dominic asked pointing down a closed off hallway.

"You will, set the charges timed for one hour," Castiel ordered, "I'm heading to the bridge to secure any intel that may have be on this ship."

"Wait, firstly, why and secondly the ship is dark you can't get anything off them right?" Dominic asked confused, he was told this was a strict torch op.

"The bridge was it's own power supply for life support and to maintain their computers so they can still be able to move and send an SOS," Castiel explained, "There should be some juice left, also ONI has a hunch about this ship in particular."

"Got it boss," Dominic said beginning to make his way to the engine block.

It was no easy task either, he found himself having to pry open his fair share of doors however he found his way the engine block quickly. Along the way he meet some of the crew, well the remains. Skeletons of all species sparsely populated the ship, as if the remaining crew didn't even care about their fallen comrades enough to give them a proper send off.

Dominic came to the engine block and found that some of the scouts had already been there. This was evident by some tools and small light sources left behind. From what he could tell, they had been working on the engine. The Holder of Faith's engine was interesting in design; it was positioned in a massive cylinder that was complete sealed. However it had been opened for maintenance purposes, presumably by the scouts. Now, the cylinder had been lifted up allowing for the engine to be seen it's purple glow illuminating the room. Dominic had no engineering expertise, though he was smart enough to notice that the engine seemed intact. Dominic got to work, he took out his charge, a thermite carbon-core explosive. The idea was to cause a wild cat engine failure so that it will erase the Holder of Faith, because there was no way to actually recover the ship with the UNSC so spread thin. As Dominic got to his work, Castiel was yet to begin his. This delay was due to an unforeseen problem, bridge door was sealed shut. From what he could tell it had a special door that could not be pried open, he'd have to find another way in.

"Now this is interesting," Castiel said to himself.

He stood in front of it his rifle holstered looking for some way to get the door open. Castiel had two options; first, he could blast it open with thermite, which he did have one charge on him in case Dominic was killed getting to it, or he could hack his way in. He found one console on next to the door. From what he could gather it was probably turned on by the scouts attempting to get in as well. Where they failed he would succeed, he had a little friend.

"Skua." Castiel said knocking on his helmet, "Need you to get a door open,"

"Affirmative," the dumb A.I. said in a bland male voice.

Castiel took the chip out containing the dumb A.I. and inserted it into the console, a few moments later Skua reported to Castiel.

"Sir," Skua begun, "I have unsealed the chamber, however the reason for lock down where for quarantine reasons, I recommend you seal your suit."

Castiel then activated the seal on his suit making airtight it'd be impossible for airborne pathogens to get into his suit. He ready his rifle and pulled Skua out of the console.

"Skua, why was the bridge quarantined?" Castiel asked,

"It was not specified, it was ordered by the Shipmaster." Skua replied, "Doors are opening now,"

The first blast door came down, soon it revealed the blast door which then came down, Castiel entered the bridge cautiously. What he found was quite disturbing even for him. The room had a green-looking fog which he presumed was a product of the decomposition. As he entered, he saw that the crew had remained at their post, even the Shipmaster who was slumped over in his command chair mostly decayed. Castiel approached the helm which was positioned in front of the command chair. Castiel then inserted the Skua into the console, the console then light up enumerating the room with a purple glow.

"What am I looking for, sir?" Skua asked.

"Everything relating to navigation, Shipmaster logs and last combat zone entered." Castiel asked,

"Understood, and done," Skua said,

"Good," Castiel then reinserted Skua back into his helmet, "Dominic do you copy?"

"Yep, charges are in place, one hour as you asked," Dominic responded as he made his back to the maintenance hatch.

"Alright, meet me at the maintenance hatch, once Ada and Jaon are done with the camp we'll fall back and get out of here before we create a massive crater." Castiel said,

During this time Jaon B-340 and Ada B-345 are clearing out the abandoned UNSC compound of the scouts. The two SPARTANs crept through the abandoned outpost like lions in the tall grass. Moving from cover to cover, pool of shadow to pool of shadow. As they did this they had one objective in mind, the scouts ships. They had come in a group of litches, a small void craft that was slipspace capable. It's small size, stealth, and cloaking capabilities made it a prime target. They didn't want the Covies getting off world before the Holder of Faith was turned to dust.

As Castiel and Dominic where getting out of the Holder of Faith, Jaon and Ada were about to descend upon their prey. A wounded Sangheili staggered attempted to escape the wrath of the two SPARTANs but he didn't make it far. He felt a bullet enter his back at an angle piercing one of his hearts. The Sangheili fell forward into the snow, now turned purple.

The SPARTAN holstered her pistol and turned to her comrade who put a Kig-Yar out his misery by crushing it's head with her sabaton. Jaon had always been very brutal toward aliens, showing very little in the way of remorse for her actions.

"Boss," Jaon said addressing Castiel, "Objective secure we're preparing to destroy those litchs."

"Affirmative, place charges and bug out, follow the waypoints," Castiel ordered,

"Understood," Jaon responded she then turned to her comrade, Ada, "Alright you heard the man, let's get to it."

Ada nodded and the two SPARTANs begun their work. The litches were not complicated machines and required little knowledge on spacecraft to see the craft's weak points. Ada and Jaon quickly planted their charges on a fuel valve that was exposed by the sloping of the blast shields near it's engines.

"Alright kid, let's beat feet," Jaon told Ada, "Boss, charges set we are heading to the rally point."

"Confirmed; stay frosty," Castiel said,

"Boss, we got a problem," Ariel said

"Talk to me Aussie," Castiel said making a point of her thick outback accent,

"To your six, got two phantoms," Ariel said, "Shit, boss one of the phantoms is carrying a revenant."

Castiel motioned to Dominic to fall back inside the Holder of Faith. He knew they wouldn't be able to outrun a revenant. SPARTANs were fast but not that fast.

"Where are the covies droppin?" Castiel asked,

"To you're two boss," Ariel said exchanging her standard issue rounds with APCR rounds, "I got eyes on a Field Marshal, two Zealots and two squads of Minors, boss. What's the plan boss?"

Castiel rapidly responded, "Take out the Marshal if you got a shot, Jaon, Ada get your asses down here and attack them in the rear, Dominic how much time do we have?"

"Fifty minutes boss," Dominic responded loading his railgun with APCR rounds.

"Plenty of time." Castiel commented checking his BR, "Jaon, Ada, status."

"Nearly there boss," Jaon responded.

"Rodger, here's the plan," Castiel begun, "Ariel take the Marshal out at least piss him off he'll be looking for you, me and Dominic will then split his forces up and Jaon and Ada will flank behind and kill of the remainder."

As the phantoms left their troops, the Field Marshal made his way toward the ship his honor guard, the two Zealots flanking him and the two squads of minors following behind they barely armored some where lucky to even have sabatons. The fire team acknowledged and got to there work. Ariel started the firefight, placing a shot into the Field Marshal's helmet, his shields glistened and exploded. The Elite was flung to the side before getting up the round imbedded in his helmet. His bodyguard turned to face Ariel's potion when Dominic and Castiel broke cover and fired on them. Dominic's railgun unleashed a hellish round into the Zealots. Both where sent flying in opposite directions; one lacking a leg. It was disintegrated by the kinetic energy of the rail guns round blasting through it. The other was down, but recovered quickly, furious and angry over the loss of his comrade. He ignited his energy sword and charged the SPARTANs only to be gunned down by Ariel. At this point, the two minor squads were in disarray, their commander was in a daze and they were being shoot from two different directions, eventually after taking shots from Castiel, who was now advancing toward the Sangheili while firing his Battle Rifle, begun to fire at the SPARTAN and maneuver to cover.

Castiel used his enhanced agility and reflexes to his advantage and advanced rapidly toward the Sangheili. The revenant driver finally got into action and fired a shot at Castiel which hit near by making the SPARTAN's shields drop. The SPARTAN dove into defile and waited for Dominic. Dominic had spotted the revenant advancing and firing and loaded the rail gun with APCR and fired a shot which hit and penetrated the frontal armor of the revenant. The the speeder exploded in a fantastic display sending shards of vehicle everywhere.

Finally, the Field Marshal had gotten back to his senses, he ignited his energy sword and charged Castiel.

The Field Marshal struck first at the SPARTAN. Castiel evaded the stabbing attack by jumping back firing several shots at the Field Marshal. This only angered the massive alien and he struck again with a slash going right to left. Castiel evaded again the attack and slammed into the Sangheili. The body slam only knocked the Sangheili back. The Sangheili continued it's dogged attempt to kill the SPARTAN which was answered with shots from the SPARTAN's Battle Rifle and melee. His punches and kicks however only angered the Sangheili. Eventually, the Field Marshal lost all discipline and leaped forward leading with his energy sword, just as Castiel hoped. As the wild attack happened, the SPARTAN pulled out his combat blade and evaded the attack. Castiel dropped down which sent his blade upwards. The blade struck home entering the stomach and cutting open the Sangheili. The Field Marshal rolled after the leap one hand holding entrails the other his energy sword. The Sangheili roared and charged Castiel his blade brought upward ready to slash down onto the SPARTAN. Castiel answer with a swift leap to the side then bringing his blade into the Sangheili's side. He took it out and swiftly brought it up to the Sangheili's neck. There was a quick and soft stab before the Sangheili fell forward energy sword falling from his hands.

"I like the way you die boy," Castiel said and turned to face the two minor squads.

The squads were tied up with Ariel, Jaon and Ada laying down fire on them. Jaon and Ada advanced firing on the move Ada alone putting fierce yet controlled fire on the Sangheili with her SAW, meanwhile Jaon fired on the Sangheili with great skill and advanced some what faster. At this point only a total of five Sangheili were standing two of them were gravely wounded by a HE round fired at them by Dominic. Castiel advanced attempting the close the gap and finish off the rest Jaon made it first, however, blade drawn. She met the first with a quick stab to his exposed stomach she still firing her assault rifle at the others to keep them off her. Jaon brought her blade up stabbing one through the jaw into it's head. She brought her blade back into fighting ready two Sangheili charging her, she fired her Assault Rifle yet nothing came out. She tossed it and fired her magnum at the advancing Sangheili one falling the other being tackled to the ground by Castiel and swiftly killed. The remainder were swiftly finished off by Ariel and Ada, they attempting to escape.

"Jaon!" Castiel yelled the SPARTAN III turning to Castiel, "The fuck I say about charging like that! Do you want to be killed?"

"I thought we were sent here to kill covies not play marine!" Jaon responded.

"Boss!" Dominic said, "Time!"

Castiel then remembered they had a time limit on this one, he turned to Jaon, "Later."

"Whatever," She whispered.

"Alright Jaeger let's pack it up, pick up point is four kilometers out move it!" Castiel ordered.

The SPARTANs began to move in a dead sprint, the fast Ariel was moving at forty kilometers per hour the others where moving at relatively the same pace. As such they made it to the LZ in no time.

"Dominic, time?" Castiel asked,

"Say about thirty nine minutes,"Dominic stated.

"Good job everyone," Castiel said congratulating his team on another mission done, "Minerva this is Jaeger we are ready for pick up."

"Roger, Pelican is already in the area sit tight," the Captain of the Minerva responded.

"Jaeger this is Impala I'm inbound ready to extract you," the pelican pilot announced.

"Hell...that was easy," Dominic said.

"Yeah, little too easy if you ask me." Jaon said.

"You didn't have to set the bomb, you got the fun part." Dominic responded.

Jaon looked to Dominic, "You blow stuff up, that's easy!"

"Easy?" Dominic responded, "Jaon demolitions isn't easy, it is an art that requires extreme amount of control and patience."

"Yeah right," Jaon said.

"Oh you don't believe me?" Dominic asked sarcastically.

Jaon just nodded she was getting a little angry, "Of course I don't, after all you never get your hands dirty." Jaon says as she shows off the blood spatters on her gauntlets.

Dominic stepped forward, "Now you-"

"Enough out of you both!" Castiel said, "I want you two behaving alright?"

"Yes sir!" the two SPARTANs responded.

"Good better stay that way," Castiel said.

The pelican soon arrived it's doors opening the SPARTANs climbed in and they soon left the blast area. They soon found themselves breaking the atmosphere eventually making it into the void. Dominic always found a certain fascination with the stars. Always said, he's been in the UNSC even if he wasn't a SPARTAN, he just wanted to see the stars.

"Should be going off in ten minutes," Dominic announced,

"What do you mean should?" Ariel asked,

Jaon interrupted, "Cause Da Vinci over here doesn't know-"

"Quiet!" Ariel said, "What do you mean soon?"

"Well," Dominic began, "It depends on the core, if it's warm then it'll blow instantly, if not it'll be a slow burn it'll go off, just not instantly."

"Interesting," Ariel said, "Cas, got any word on where we are heading?"

Castiel was reviewing a data pad which he had been doing since launch.

"We got a new assignment, from ONI section three, they want us at Earth for briefing." Castiel responded.

"What's the op?" Ariel asked.

"Not sure, says it's high priority several ships, they will tell us more,"

UNSC Pit Boss

January 2555

"What do you mean, 'come back to Earth'?" Captain Nathaniel Kent yelled at screen displaying the image of a ONI officer.

"Captain, I understand your frustration but your services are needed for a very important task." the ONI agent said once again.

Kent leaned forward in his command chair "I got that part Bennett-"

"Colonel." Colonel Bennett corrected the Captain.

"Forgive me, Colonel Bennett however if you have not noticed I'm doing something very important I'll have you know!" Kent said his vex shown clearly.

"Yes, yes I know you've been tracking stolen UNSC Shevia Nukes, that is high priority," Bennett begun until he was interrupted.

"That could wipe a colony Bennett!" Kent said,

"Colonel!" Bennett yelled corrected Kent again.

"Sorry Colonel, but as you can see I clearly have something important to do!" Kent yelled back,

"Don't make me fucking pull rank Kent!" Bennett yelled in an angry tone, "I should have your ass court martialed but the Old Bird has-"

"Wait a goddamn minute!" Kent yelled surprised, "The Old Bird?"

Bennett seemed to calm down as he had now captured Kent's interest. Getting orders from the Director of ONI was big, in fact it was up there with a divine quest in most UNSC officers books.

"Yes Parangosky herself is asking for you," Bennett said with a small smile growing.

Kent nodded "Aye, if it'd be from the Bird herself I'm coming to Earth then."

"Very well, I shall brief you on your arrival." Bennett said.

The link was then cut and Kent was left to ponder in his chair. Yes he did work for ONI but at the same time he was more regular UNSC than ONI. As such the majority of his service was spent assisting in combat operations, not spying. However the Pit Boss was a prowler so it technically belonged to ONI however it was assigned to UNSC regular command for purposes of having a scouting and quick attack craft.

He was still getting used to not having an admiral breathing down his neck for a SIT REP every five minutes, which he admitted was nice, but he still didn't like having ONI agents on his ship. He didn't like someone having the ability to have a legal mutiny on his ship.

His thoughts dwelled on the coming mission, no one got orders directly from the Old Bird, no one! So to say the least this was quite the shocker for Kent, he then looked to his helmsman, a young lad in his early twenties.

"Helmsman give me a route and head to Earth we got a meeting with the Old Bird!" Kent commanded.

"Aye captain!" the helmsman replied.

Pit Boss soon found itself turning toward Earth and then suddenly enter slipspace.


	2. To speak of Demons

**UNSC **_**Minerva**_**, En Route to Earth**

**January, 2555**

Castiel found himself once again in the armory cleaning his rifle. He called it his, _Sanctuary_, often using it too think and reflect on what has and is going to happen. Currently, he was thinking about the upcoming mission. He'd had plenty of ONI missions; he was a SPARTAN after all. Still this was a mystery, even for ONI. From what the _invitation_said was to come to Earth for an operation called Frontiersman and that was all.

Castiel's thoughts swam in his mind as he searched for what that could mean. _Perhaps it was an obscure code for a certain type of op_? _Nah_, he thought to himself, _I'd at least remember seeing it_. This bothered him more because when ONI lacked details, it'd either meant either it's beyond your pay grade, or ONI didn't even know. The second was more likely and a lot more troubling, Castiel thought.

ONI not knowing is like a god not knowing. It means something is wrong, terribly wrong. _But what?_Castiel thought, clearly if it was something terrible HIGHCOM would have called. However, there was no mention of HIGH COM. He'd even checked with the Captain of the _Minerva_who said he only received word of transfer and that he was to leave Jaeger on Earth before heading to unexplored space to take over another operation.

This made it even weirder. ONI rarely ever did this, in fact if they did, something big was going down that required heavy artillery. That's what bothered him the most, asking for some of the last known SPARTAN II's was something big. Whatever this something was, it was clearly a threat on multiple levels.

"You know it's bad to keep to yourself," Ariel said as she entered the room.

She was dressed much as the same as Castiel, standard pants and boots with a undershirt without sleeves allowing their visages and many scars to be seen. Castiel looked to Ariel to see a fair skin green eyes short brown hair women who looked to be in her forties. And Ariel saw Castiel's pale brown hair green eye stubbly scared face. The SPARTANs had been together, as a squadmates, since the early days of the SPARTAN program. As such they had a bond that could not be broken between them, they were in a sense brother and sister.

"It's how I work out things Ariel you know that," Castiel said putting his Battle Rifle back together.

"Does it work?" Ariel asked coyly with a smile on her face.

"Works for me," Castiel said back.

Ariel sat down next the the SPARTAN and put her arm around his shoulder. "Look I know you're worried about that mission ahead, but it cannot be the worst thing ever." Ariel said attempting to reassure Castiel.

"I know, but I'm not worried as much bothered by it. It's nothing we can't handle, but still," Castiel said shrugging.

Ariel nodded, "You're worried about Jaon and Dominic."

"There oil and water, Aussie," Castiel said standing up to inspect his armor.

"And you think we can't do anything about that?" Ariel asked.

"Me and you both know what Jaon is going through," Castiel said, "But I have to say Dominic does not deserve what he is getting."

"I agree, but shouldn't we help her?" Ariel asked.

"We can't," Castiel said examining his helmet for any compromising factors on it, "You know SPARTANs can't get shrinked, it's next to impossible and you and mean know it."

"Doesn't mean we can't try." Ariel pointed out.

"She needs to do that herself, look at Dom, he's fine and he was a headhunter," Castiel pointed out.

"Well Dominic is...well different." Ariel said diplomatically.

"Why the pause?" Castiel asked.

Ariel was quiet for moment collecting her thoughts, "He does not seem to be attached, I mean he seems to talk down to the others, even Ada and she can't even talk back."

"And Jaon doesn't?" Castiel pointed out.

"She's-"

"Different?" Castiel asked.

Ariel grew vexed, "Yes, everyone grieves differently and she does it throw close combat."

"And you think that's safe, look come to think of it, she needs to grieve but not on the damn battlefield." Castiel said.

"Look what happened to her!" Ariel said,

"I read her file I know what happened, but she needs to find a different way of doing it!" Castiel said now yelling.

"Why!" Ariel yelled back,

"Cause that's how we lost Damion!" Castiel yelled.

Ariel paused, he never talked about Sam.

Damion was one of the last SPARTAN II's assigned to Jaeger. It was during the battle of Tansar that Damion was killed after he broke and went berserk on the Covenant attacking the UNSC base they were defending. Castiel always blamed himself for Damion's death, Ariel attempted, always, to get him to forgive himself.

"I know how you feel about Damion, and that should be a great indicator to help Jaon," Ariel said,

"I got that, but you know what happens if they find out if one of us is borderline insane, they don't send us to the looney bin." Castiel pointed out,

"Then it doesn't have to be them then, you can talk to her." Ariel said.

Castiel paused he then closed the armor locker containing his armor. He then turned to Ariel his face changed from his normal emotionalist stare to a somewhat disgruntled.

"What do we say then?" Castiel asked.

"I don't know, but if we don't say anything than she'll get herself killed," Ariel pointed out.

Castiel nodded, "Well, we cannot do anything now where on the clock, we should be arriving on Earth in a short time."

Ariel sighed she knew he was just attempting to move on, "Fine, but the moment we have a deep space op which'll require a lot of waiting, you and I will talk to Jaon."

Castiel nodded "You got it, Aussie,"

**UNSC **_**Minerva, **_**In orbit of Earth**

**January, 2555 **

"This is the UNSC _Minerva_, requesting flight path for drop off of SPARTAN team Jaeger." Captain William commander of the UNSC _Minerva _asked to the UNSC Port Authority of Earth.

"Affirmative, ONI informed us earlier of your arrival, your instructions are to enter orbit bearing four-seven-eight-nine and meet with the UNSC _Pit Boss. _Your orders are to oversee the transfer of SPARTAN team Jaeger to _Pit Boss_." Port Authority told Captain William, "However Lieutenant Castiel is being requested to be taken to Sydney."

"Understood, we'll be entering course in five minutes, have a nice day Authority." Captain William said,

The comm shut off and William sat in his chair for a moment to gaze at his home world. Earth had been scared by the war but not as badly as the rest of the colonies. A large portion of Africa had been glassed when the Flood landed on that portion of the Earth the battlefield was still visible yet now was left unoccupied.

"Set course to meet _Pit Boss_on the bearing." William commanded.

_Minerva_begun to move closer to Earth as it got onto course. The crew worked tirelessly as they controlled the many systems necessary for its flight. He looked to his crew of five years with a mixture of nostalgia and some amount sadness. Much of the crew had been lost in a Covenant ambush, and the ship managed to limp to port for repairs. He had to notify many families and that had been incredibly difficult. He wished he could do that for the team of SPARTANs who died on the world below where _Minerva_was slammed by a plasma torpedo. He was unable, nor was he allowed, to access to the information of their families. This tale was similar across all incarnations of the SPARTANs. He truly wished he could no one should be left to die and not have their loved ones know.

"Sir, we are approaching _Pit Boss_," one of the Junior Officers said.

"Understood, prepare the transfer, and inform Castiel he has a Pelican waiting for him in the hangar bay."

Castiel had been sitting in the empty pelican for some time now. He had little in the idea of why they would need him in most procedures he would be informed by the task force leader about the details he needed to know. However, he was being brought into the meeting itself. He rarely got to hear the brass talk on the exact details of the operation at hand. However, he wrote it off as most likely wanting to have all their ducks in a row and operational details not being jumbled by word of mouth.

As the Pelican broke the troposphere and entered the atmosphere, he began to ponder on what Ariel said to him. He felt like maybe she was right that maybe Jaon did need a talking to. Jaon was known for going into a berserker blitz and having a grim resolve when in combat. This often resulted in her receiving many wounds and forcing the team to readjust to keep Jaon from getting killed. Castiel begun to wonder if she did this on purpose, after all she did have reason to take her own life, though he dare not wish to recall such forbidden thoughts.

"SPARTAN," the pilot of the pelican said in a rough midwestern American voice called out, "We'll be entering Sydney airspace soon so I suggest you get yourself ready for landing."

"Understood," Castiel said.

Castiel stood up and checked his uniform, which was specially tailored for him, he adjusted and made sure his campaign ribbons and medals were in order. He stood ready as the pilot looked back to his co pilot.

"Sam, what do you think of this guy?" the pilot asked his co-pilot Sam,

"Fuck do I care Dean, probably another emotionless SPARTAN," Sam replied.

"Whatever Sammy," Dean said

"Jerk," Sam said

"Bitch," Dean replied rapidly.

"Pilot, got me an ETA?" Castiel asked interrupting the banter between the pelican pilots.

"Hold on, waiting for the douchebags below to give me the okay," Dean said,

"Pelican IFV-128765-alpha-november, Dean that you?" a gruff elderly man asked over the comm.

"Hey yo Bobby, how's life?" Dean asked with a hint of enthusiasm,

"Let's see, I've been in a goddamn bunker for the past four months while you and Sam have had all the fun, yeah, life is a blast right now." Bobby replied in a sarcastic tone.

"Well that's great, am I clear?" Dean asked.

"Yeah you're clear, bigwigs told me you were coming." Bobby said, "Proceed to landing pad Baker-nine."

"Yeah roger," Dean said ending the comm link, "SPARTAN eta is in two minutes, did you brush your teeth and put on cologne?"

"Brushing teeth is common hygiene and what's cologne?" Castiel asked,

"Never mind," Dean said in a semi-defeated tone.

"Dean, no one laughs at your jokes, so I wouldn't expect that robot to get it," Sam said,

"You know that I can hear you?" Castiel said,

"Um, sorry," Sam said sheepishly.

"Way to go Sammy, you pissed off a bonafide badass. You know they all are," Dean said with greatest respect.

Castiel simply ignored the conversation. He was used to the constant jokes about SPARTANs being robots and about them lacking emotion. He always thought though thats what made them good soldiers, Castiel always thought that anger and emotion is the number one killer of good soldiers. He began to ponder yet again if Ariel was right about Jaon when the Pelican touch down on the landing pad.

"Alright, this stop your stop SPARTAN," Dean said.

The doors opened and Castiel exited the pelican, he was meet by a young ONI agent. He could tell she was young due to how her eyes still held hope that ONI was an organization built upon 'morals' and 'for the betterment of humanity' Castiel knew that look wouldn't last long. After going through many scanners check points and elevators Castiel arrived in the briefing room. He sat down in one of the chairs further in the back and got ready for the meeting.

An elderly woman stood before the room, though old and feeble she held the eyes of authority which it was so strong it even made Castiel recognize the woman's authority. The room of naval officers was focused on this woman now the room silent of any form of communication.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you are sitting comfortably," the woman started. "As you know, I'm Rear Admiral Margaret Parangosky, head of ONI, and this meeting never happened."

"Admiral with all due respect, why could you have not briefed us via traditional comms, this seems, counter productive," Captain Pike of the UNSC _Carolina_said in a tone of annoyance.

"Yes, I do understand the inconvenience, however I could not risk information of this meeting or all that we have discovered leaking," Parangosky replied calmly, though frustration could be felt from the old women.

"And what intelligence would require calling a small fleet to anchor and have a council of captains in Bravo 6?" Captain Kent asked.

"Good to see you too, Nathaniel," Parangosky said to Captain Kent, "I take it Bennett didn't give you a hard time?"

"Yes ma'am, he was a perfect _gentlemen_." Kent said with no effort to hide the sarcasm.

"Can we move on with the briefing?" Bennett asked.

"Why thank you, Bennett, I often get side tracked," Parangosky responded, "I've gathered you here due to a find we've made."

"Forerunner?" asked Captain Harrison of the UNSC _Lion Heart_

"No, something far more sinister." Parangosky revealed

The feeling of the room changed as the room populated by naval officers now where in a new mind set. This had turned from curiosity to a serious matter.

"What do you mean?" asked Captain Miller, who wasn't a naval captain, Castiel observed the fact that he was instead with the Marines Corps.

"Ah yes," Parangosky bgan to reply, then motioned and a man stood up from the table. The man wasn't exactly navy nor army, he looked like a scientist of sorts. He wasn't physically intimidating nor did the way he present himself should a large amount of confidence. His face held a beard and the eyes which had seen battle. "This is Doctor Evan Phillips, he is a Xenoanthropologist specializing in Sangheili battle tongue."

"Umm, yes, yes I do that," Phillips said awkwardly.

"He has found something that can point us to what happened on Roanoke," Parangosky said giving Philips a motion to step forward before the council.

"Well yes, I have some, interesting findings from several battle logs from ships that were fighting at Roanoke," Phillips said starting out.

"What would that be, son?" Kent asked getting impatient.

"Right, to the point, all had one priority transmission," Philips begun speaking while vigorously with his hands as if he were lecturing a class. "The message mentioned that several ships including the recently destroyed ship _Holder of Faith_, had been boarded by demons. They were ordered to make random slipspace jump and crash their ships. The rest of the fleet was ordered to scatter, due to a 'storm in space'."

"So, wait are you telling me we had SPARTANs on Roanoke?" asked Captain Harrison.

"Well, sir, demon isn't just a SPARTAN," Philips begun speaking a little enthusiastically, "You see they called them, SPARTANs, demons due to their nature of being fully evil as they not only opposed the Covenant but were incredibly deadly. Demon is more of an expression for something evil that is relatively unknown to the Covenant. Therefore demon can mean anything evil and unknown."

"Are you saying we are dealing with something even the Covenant don't know what it is?" Kent asked.

"Yessir, and that's why I suggest one thing, any attempts to hail this new alien should be attempted, learning it's language and culture is very much needed if we are to fight this new threat, if it is even a threat to us," Phillips said.

"Thank you Evan, please sit back down," Parangosky asked Philips. "Now on operational structure. Captain Serin Osman is operational leader, Colonel Bennett is Aide-De-Camp and will coordinate army and navy forces. Captain Kent's _Pit Boss_shall be containing the landing party, Jaeger shall land on the world with a six man SPARTAN team."

"Ma'ma," Castiel interrupted Parangosky, "I only have five SPARTANs."

"I understand that, however Naomi-zero-one-zero shall be under your command," Parangosky responded, "Now as I was saying, Fire team Jaeger will deploy and seize the Villa. It is or was the main UNSC base on the world, it is surrounded by a settlement, it once housed a population of nearly twenty thousand however it is unknown what the population is now. Jaeger's objective is to recover all data that is housed in the Villa and transfer it the UNSC _Port Stanley _ where it shall be brought back the Bravo Six for analysis."

"Ma'ma wouldn't be simpler to simply transfer it through a data link?" Miller asked.

"Yes, however this data is too critical to risk it being intercepted. Any other questions?" Parangosky asked, which after a few moments of silence she spoke again, "Return to your ships, your route shall be transmitted to your ships, good luck."

* * *

Castiel found himself being guided back to the landing pad after much time going through checkpoints and elevators. The sun was now about to set when he arrived at the landing pad. Waiting for him was who he believed to be Naomi. About as tall as Ariel though lacked the tan skin she had, instead it was pale with platinum hair.

"Castiel, I thought you were dead," Naomi said.

"Most SPARTANs think their fellow SPARTANs are all dead, but we keep turning up," Castiel responded with a slight grin on his face.

The two got onto the Pelican and headed up to the _Pit Boss_. The Pelican was silent for the most part, the SPARTANs spoke to each other occasionally. However both where more interested in the mission they'd just been introduced too.

"You know," Castiel started, "If ONI's right about this, were in for one helluva ride." Castiel said aloud.

"Well, I doubt it, ONI has been wrong before." Naomi countered.

"Hmm, I read your file Naomi, I know you're black ops and I can tell yea, they knew exactly what was going to happen," Castiel said looking towards Naomi, "ONI being wrong is like God being wrong about something, it's impossible."

"You seem to have allot of faith in ONI." Naomi commented.

"It ain't faith, faith is when you believe and trust something, I believe ONI when they say something and provide proof, I don't trust them at all," Castiel said


End file.
